Code Vein's NPC companions will be completely optional

If you don’t remember the name of Code Vein, you might instead recall that it’s basically anime Dark Souls, and that’s not just a reductive shorthand. Code Vein is incredibly explicit about its reverence to the Souls series, and a lengthy gameplay video shows that it’s doing right by those inspirations.

The IGN First reveal above shows off 17 minutes of what looks to be some very satisfying action. Combat looks to be a little more proactive than the more defensive approach encouraged by early Souls games, but it’s not quite as aggressive as Bloodborne. The protagonist’s Revenant blood gives them special abilities called Gifts, and your use of them is replenished by attacking monsters.

Code Vein’s inclusion of an NPC companion is one of the most obvious departures from Souls, as a helper character providing backup does a lot to make things less lonely and foreboding. If you're not into that, the companions will be totally optional, but having a buddy running interference against the enemies should provide an interesting departure from Souls.

Publishers Bandai Namco also put out From Software’s Dark Souls trilogy, and developers Shift have experience converting other popular genres into anime apocalypses with the Monster Hunter-inspired God Eater franchise. There’s just the right amount of experience there, and it looks like Code Vein is shaping up nicely. It’s expected to release in 2018 and yes, that includes PC.